Album Review - Barenaked Ladies - Barenaked Ladies Are Me
John Metzger
There always have been both campy and serious aspects to Barenaked
Ladies' music, and its material has fared best whenever these opposing
concepts have remained in equilibrium. The problem the band increasingly
has faced, however, is that the more it has striven for maturity, the
more its clownish behavior has felt forced. Add to this the notions that
its audience has begun to outgrow its oddball lyrics and goofy antics as
well as that it has become fashionable to deride Barenaked Ladies for
the same reasons that it once was beloved, and the makings for a
full-scale implosion are in place. This is precisely what occurred when
the ensemble issued its 2003 endeavor Everything to Everyone. Although
the title of the set poked fun at the band's marketing approach, and its
contents weren't substantively different from what had been successful
in the past, the album largely was met with a general sense of apathy by
critics and fans alike. With the release of Barenaked for the Holidays,
the Canadian outfit opted to regroup by taking more control over its
music, and in opening its latest outing Barenaked Ladies Are Me with the
gentle, melancholy refrains of Adrift, the group further has signaled
that it wants to be taken more seriously.
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